Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu begins his ancestry book (Spanish text) with a brief prolog. He chronicles the founding of San Juan Bautista de Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon, Mexico and the population growth from the original 20 founding families to 53,582 people reported on the 1990 Cadereyta census. In the first two Chapters, he recounts the initial founding (8/13/1637) and the reasons for the subsequent re-foundings of Cadereyta. Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu describes the distribution of community lands; ‘ejidos’ and enumerates the 41 Indian tribes (Table 1) that surround Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon. He concludes his second chapter by outlining the costumes of some of the Indian tribes and their hunting and dietary habits.


Indian Tribes near San Juan Bautista de Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon
Admitiales Camatonaja Guaristiguara Pijiniguara
Amancoas Camayapalo Hualahuises Quejanaguia
Amiguara Canaguiagues Jiniapas Quinigualas
Amiguara Canamarigui Jiniguara Soloaguas
Aniraniguara Canayna Macoraenas Tascuache
Baquiziziguara Capagui Majanales Tociniguara
Cacamegua Cocoaiparas Manunejo Yaquinigua
Caguiraniguara Comocauras Mayajuanguara Zumitagui
Caguisniguara Cotipiniguara Paciguima
Cajanibi Cuaguijamiguara Pantiguara
Camaiguaras Cuatiguara Parajota

Table 1. This table lists the 41 Indian tribes that lived next to San Juan Bautista de Cadereyta, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

The third chapter of this ancestry book chronicles historic events derived from the correspondence of the former mayor of Cadereyta from 1765 through 1842. This chapter recounts the recognition of the emperor (Agustin de Iturbide), city council membership, Cholera epidemic, Centralist against Federalist, Indian and bandit problems. For the genealogist there are lists of Cadereyta city employees, military recruits (Table 2), city council members, citizens who have weapons, members of 1st infantry, and of the 1st through 3rd cavalry.


List of Cadereyta Jimenez Citizens that can handle weapons
Tomas Garcia leal Miguel De La Garza Antonio Rendon Rosario de la Garza
Agustin de Los Santos Jose Maria Trevino Tomas Valdez Juan Gonzalez
Mauricio Perez Feliciano Flores Juan Lerma Hilario Arellano
Irineo Guerrero Remigio Carrillo Juan Pena Francisco Esparza
Silverio Ramirez Agapito Garcia Francisco Castillo Valentin Galvan
Macario De La Garza Blas Guadiana Mateo Rodriguez Neponio Galvez

Table 2. List of Cadereyta Jimenez citizens that can handle weapons to form two active Companies in the free state of Nuevo Leon (7/11/1826).

Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu’s fourth and fifth chapters relate events derived from the Mayoral correspondence from 1843 through 1859. These correspondence recounts the 1843 victory over Texas (Mier, Tamauilpas), election of Governor, Bishop Visit, Fight of Agapito Trevino, Election of Juan Alvarez and a gun fight with the famous bandit Pedro Garcia. The author enumerates the Cadereyta citizens who form the 1st and 2nd Auxiliaries, Jurisdictions of Cadereyta Jimenez, Nuevo Leon (Table 3), foreigners who live in Cadereyta Jimenez, and lists of the Mobil National Guard infantry and cavalry.


Jurisdictions of Cadereyta Jimenez, Nuevo Leon, Mexico
San Jose Castillo Soledad De Herrera
Santa Ana San Bartolome Dolores
Lobita Chihuahua Concepcion
Cieneguia Del Rio Santa Fe Enramada
San Rafeal Escondida Capadero
Atongo Potreros

Table 3. List of the communities within the Jurisdiction of Cadereyta Jimenez, Nuevo Leon, Mexico on October 2, 1848.

The sixth chapter of this ancestry book recounts the historic events derived from the Mayoral correspondence from 1862 through 1876. Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu describes the small pox epidemics, bandit activity, the French Intervention, marching orders, battles, and the end of the Empire in Nuevo Leon. In this chapter the Author provides lists of National Guard soldiers, Mobil National Guard soldiers sent to Matamoros, Cadereyta citizens put in prison, and Cadereyta Jimenez officials of rank

Chapter seven describes the events derived from the Mayoral correspondence from 1870 through 1911. This chapter recounts the Assassination of Commander Manuel Ortega, Kikapoo Indians, yellow fever, small pox epidemic, ceremonies for building a bridge, Cadereyta city clock and decoration of Porfirio Diaz. Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu enumerates Manuel Ortega’s company of National Guard Cavalry and the doctors that practiced in Cadereyta Jimenez, Nuevo Leon, Mexico.

The last chapter of this ancestry book derived from Mayoral correspondence from 1913 through 1993 discusses the revolutionary forces, bandits, primary schools, businesses, and the robbery of the municipal treasury of Cadereyta Jimenez. Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu lists prisoners that were set free by revolutionary forces, primary schools, and citizens that have set up business in Cadereyta Jimenez and its jurisdiction.

Chapters nine through twelve of this ancestry book describe the categories of all the localities of Cadereyta Jimenez, Nuevo Leon (city, community, hacienda, rancho, ejido or station) with the census populations of each (Unfortunately, Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu did not provide the date of this Cadereyta census.), a list of municipal presidents of Cadereyta from 8/13/1637 through 1997, the founding of Cerralvo, and the characteristics and geography of Cadereyta Jimenez with maps and Cadereyta census population numbers from 1821 through 1990. Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu concludes his ancestry book with 18 biographies (Table 4), an explanation of the Cadereyta city shield and a bibliography of his sources.


San Juan Bautista de Cadereyta includes biographies of the following individuals
Cantu Trevino, Carlos Gomez Reyna, Irene Pena Flores, Tomas
De Leon, Alonso Gonzalez, Leonarda Trevino Leal, Geronimo
De Leon Gonzalez, Alonso Guerrero Guajardo, Anacleto Sada Gomez, Francisco
Garcia Davila, Agapito Leal Leal, Abelardo Antonio De Jesus Sada Salazar, Manuela

Table 4. This table lists the biographies which Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu provides in his ancestry book.

In summation of this Hispanic genealogy book review, I found that this ancestry book has three great features. The first, is the large time span of Cadereyta Jimenez history covered by this book (1637 – 1997). The second is Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu’s extensive use of Mayoral correspondence to describe the history of events in Cadereyta Jimenez, Nuevo Leon and the surrounding area. While his use of Mayoral correspondence gives insight into what it was like for our ancestors to live in those times, the reader could have benefited from a major events table. This would have given the reader an understanding of the role of regional events in relation to the Mexican history. The last feature of this ancestry book, which would be of interest to genealogist, is his use of lists (soldier, foreigner, businessmen list, etc.), to describe the participants of Cadereyta history. In concluding this Hispanic genealogy book review, I found this ancestry book to be an excellent Hispanic heritage resource for anyone who has ancestors from Cadereyta Jimenez, Nuevo Leon, especially if your ancestors served in city or military positions.



Genealogy Book Review Source:

San Juan Bautista de Cadereyta, Jose Guadalupe Hinojosa Cantu, Monterrey, 234 pages, Copyright 1995.